“Guys, this way!” Grisela shouted to the group “…there’s a small path!”
On that night, he have follow them to a strange place, hidden deep inside the Everfree forest. It was a bright night with the moon shining bright above. He could hear the sound of creatures and insects getting out of their home and starting their nightlife. In front of him, the group happily trotted towards their destination, with the black griffon flying above for guidance.
He has a strange feeling that he is going along with the group, as if they appeared right in front of him with flesh and bones. In that dream, the only senses he is missing is smell and the feels on his skin.
“There we are guys!” Luster Dawn, along with the ‘witches’, said as they arrived at the site “…this is the place where Princess Twilight and her friends free The Pillars from the Limbo and defeat the Pony of Shadow!”
“Yeah, just like that one boring history lesson…” Grisela said with a tired accent “…it’s like hearing a creature talking alone in the middle of nowhere, right BB?”
“Nah! Miss Helia's lesson was fun!” he said cheeringly.
“Argh…”
“Guys, look at this!” Luster said, pointed one of her hooves to the stone in the middle of the circle “There are words written on it! It said there are some spells that could help bring someone else out of the Limbo!”
After coming close enough to the stone, she read.
“First, take the artifacts to the sites. The artifacts are objects that the creatures who are being imprisoned use everyday: it could be a book, a pen, goggles, etc. Each creature just needs one artifact. Next, place them gently on the stones, one on each stone. Second, go to the middle of the sites and read out loud a spell that both the savior and the imprisoned creatures have agreed with each other before. The savior can stand on the middle rock or hovering above it…”
“That’s easy!” surprised Griselda.
“That’s actually the hard part, Grisela!” said Luster Dawn as she turned to her “Both sides must understand each other really well: to save the one who is imprisoned, the savior must know what is the prisoner's closest object…”
“I’ll tell them it’s the scarf I’m wearing!”
The black griffon pointed to a black scarf that tied around her neck.
“Huh? Why?” asked Luster Dawn.
“Well… in case I was stuck in the Limbo, of course!”
Flash was stunted by what she said. To him, that sentence is like she has predicted the future. Then the rest of the team follow her.
“My object would be my ballet dress!” Spring Garden said.
“Mine is the hayburger recipe!” Butter Burger said cheeringly “That’s the food that hooked me into fast food!”
“Mine is a blue bracelet!” Yamina said gently “…any blue bracelet it’s okay. It is the thing that reminds me of how I met you guys! Uhm… remember that time you gave me one just like that, Spring Garden?”
“Of course!” the gray kirin said, then she turned to Luster Dawn “How about you, LD?”
“Well… mine is this diary!”
She pulled out the brown cover notebook that Flash had seen before. This leaved him a question: did they already choose him?”
“It helps me learn a lot about friendship, and remind me of you guys as well!” she looked at it for a second before turning to her friends “…Don’t you remember that y’all also write a lot of things in this as well?”
“Well… why don’t we remember?” Grisela replied “But hey, make sure to fix the profile pic of ya!”
Flash chuckled as the gang laughed together.
“But… this place is quite remote…” Butter Burger asked in concern “…we, The Pillars, and the Council are the only ones who know this place. Oh, and your mom and dad also.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll know!” Luster Dawn said “…Is that right?”
All of them turned to him. Their faces quickly turned into lifeless faces, just like the very first time he saw them. The whole scene turned from the Everfree in the night to complete darkness. They slowly walked to him, constantly and simultaneously whispering:
“Save us out now, save us out now…”
Finally, they all ran to him, grabbed him like a bunch of lions grabbed its prey.
The nightmare ended just like the rest of the knights he met them.
…
“Canterlot, this is Captain Celaeno of the Parrot’s Strength, we have arrived at the city outskirts. Waiting for instruction, Sir!”
“Good! Stay where you are, Captain!” Bonnbon ordered “We will start our fight soon!”
Hovering right above the Blue Rock Mine, the two ships are waiting for their opponent to arrive. The reconnaissance force have reported that Equestria’s fleet is 150 kilometers from where they are.
To them, this is just the beginning. Black Wine could rule and enslave Equestria temporarily and he should ‘enjoy’ it, because they will bring him down and free the Council, as well as the other magical friend group and bring back Harmony to Equestria.
After a long discussion to determine the main strategy last night, S.M.I.L.E have decided that they will confront Black Wine’s force in the least exposed way possible. Bonbon give out her decision:
“Captain, bring our ships behind the rock in front of us…” she pointed her hoove to a pair of large rocks that formed into a gate “…we're gonna use a lot of missiles. MS will do the rest!”
“Yes, Bonbon.”
“You too, Captain Celeano. I think your ship can rest now.”
“Thank you, ma’am!”
One the cliff, where the MS forces are placed according to S.M.I.L.E’s plan, Flash, Haystack and the rest of the group adjust their position to prepare for the battle.
“Woah! Nice gun you got there, Yamina!” Water Vapor said, as he looked at Yamina’s Jegan aiming at it’s target.
“How does it look?” she asked “Newly supplied weapon! I’m glad S.M.I.L.E has placed their trust in me with this thing.”
“Good to know that.”
The gun and the additional aiming cameras on the head are two of the items that was previously supported by some of the supporters that Rainbow Dash have fortunately contacted. Both of the gun and the camera are stolen weapons from a new set of cargo that suppose to be transport to Black Wine’s Unit 265 and equipped to Yamina’s Jegan, forming the Jegan Sniper Pack
Flash came out of his cockpit to breathe some fresh air, as well as having a look at the battlefield that he and his comrades will be fighting on for the next couple of hours.
The Blue Rock Mine, just like the name suggests, is a mining site surrounded by pale blue rocks which hold Abyssinian one of the most precious resources: cobalt ore. Each year, the miners have bring up 15 thousand tons of cobalt, making the sites one of the most valuable place in the world, as cobalt is a very important component in making lithium-ion batteries, which also one of the most important parts in Earthsphere’s military and civilian assets. This makes Black Wine and his cabinet eyes-open, especially when they heard there is one Equestrian’s illegal corporation that once operated the mine. When Abyssinia seized the mines with the allegation that the company had stolen their land and resource, Black Wine came to save it. He demanded that Abyssinia must retreat all of their force from the mine and they have to let their company worked safely in the mine that they “rightfully claimed”.
At least, that was what Flash had heard from his ears. Bonbon and Lyra have suggested that the information they’ve got might be wrong, because they are still building relationships around Equus to gather intelligence for them.
The Abyssinian government rejected his demand and forcefully removed the corporation from working at Blue Rock Mine. This angered Black Wine, as he have yet lost another mines that he and his cabinet have try to take across the world. He have decided and brought his fleet to Panthera as a “negotiation advantage”, as Bonbon have suggest. However, there are news come from the last minute that the negotiation have already happen, as Black Wine’s fleet are still on the way to the Panthera. The Chancellor decided that they just go ahead to fully take the mine into their hand.
Flash looked down at the rocks. Several Abyssinian’s military units have come to assist S.M.I.L.E in case they were overwhelmed, which, according to Rainbow Dash, is “unimaginable”. However, these units still came as they wanted to”lend a hand” to S.M.I.L.E. The Abyssinians military have trusted S.M.I.L.E to hold up an operation to “protect the mine at all cost”. To them, if Black Wine can control the mines, he will control the rest of their strategic location and make the Abyssinian government become their puppet.
…
After a few more hours of waiting, they finally spotted the fleet going over the horizon, at the northern face of the mine. To normal creatures, they might be just a normal group of merchant vessels that are on their way to Panthera’s harbor, but according to the intelligence message that they got from the most reliable source they could find, they might be the Alicorn Cage fleet: the newly formed fleet of the Equestrian navy.
“4 airships from what I can see…” Discord said while looking towards his potential opponent with his telescope “…do you think they have some sort of Earthsphere weapons on it?”
“Definitely!” Lyra said “They have a deep relationship with AE, of course there are advanced weapons on it!”
“Such as?”
“Beam cannon, CIWS, missiles…”
“Okay…”
Then he turned to the com link and asked the pilots.
“Haystack, are you ready bud?”
“Yep… But where is Cloudsdale?” he asked with suspicion “Those airships can be merchant ships. Be careful not to shoot them down…”
“I could see they have at least… 8 beam cannons on their bow, bud! Small one of course!” Discord said as he looked towards the airship “It’s pretty hard to see them with naked eye!”
“Yeah…” Haystack said “Can we launch now?”
“Should we start?” Haystack asked.
The ship’s captain turned to the Director’s for permission, but Lyra said to him.
“The decision is yours, Captain.”
“Okay…” he sighed “You can start now!”
“Good! Yamina, aim for the small one on your outer left!” he ordered “The City class air cruiser!”
The four airships that going towards them are some of the newly build air navy vessel: two City class air cruiser that taken on the front row, following by 2 Artifact class vessel. All four of them are considered to be even larger than the Clop class. However, they are highly vulnerable to large numbers of attacks from smaller airships and mobile suits, since they are heavy and lack mobility. That is one of the reasons why Black Wine wanted to equip the Equestrian military with ships, MS and weapons from the Earthsphere, as he also thinks that they are more advanced than weapons from a world that was known to prefer to use magic for fighting and defence.
The Jegan Sniper Pack slightly adjusted the barrel direction in one leg knee, carefully locking it’s target. Then, a beam of light goes out of the barrel, tearing through the air and hit it’s target. The beam pierced through the hull part on the starboard side, as the airships are heading their bow straight to the mines face to face, making it listing to the starboard side.
“Haha! Nice shot!” Water Vapor complimented. “Straight through the target.”
“Uh… That was my instruction, bud…” Blue Thunder said “I will help her adjust the gun.”
The Sniper Pack for the Jegan requires an operator: an aimer and a pilot. Since Blue Thunder’s suit is still in the repair process, Haystack has ordered him to be the aimer, helping Yamina in operating the suit.
However, none of the ships seems to react. They just keep heading towards them.
“What the… Hey Discord, what is the distance from us to them?” Haystack asked.
“Uh… Uh… my crew said it was… just 14 kilometers!” he replied in surprisement.
“This could be a trap!” Bonbon said “Can it be…”
“All the crew prepare to move! Sclerite, can you see are there any vessels coming to us?”
“At least not now, Sir…” he replied with concern “…the Minovsky particles are too dense!”
It was a bright day with just a little cloud, as the sun had risen high enough to say that it was 8 o’clock at that moment. The airship has listed and smoke has started to emit from it, indicating that there is fire in it. However, it still shows no sign of stopping, just like the rest of the fleet.
“Hey Yamina, can you shoot it again? The one that just got hit!” the Lieutenant said.
Just after that, Rainbow Dash ran up to the briged. She demanded to see the opponent with her eyes and was soon satisfied. She looked at them for a second and shouted:
“Wait!”
But it was too late. The Jegan fired its second shot and, again, successfully hit the target, piercing to it’s hull. The second shot caused a massive explosion, but other ships also exploded along with it, which is very unusual to all of them.
Then, the Equestrian Secretary of Defense spoke up.
“They are baits! Those ships have long been decommissioned!”